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'Shastri' of engaging poetry

Acharya Janki Ballabh Shastri (Feb 5, 1916)
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Acharya Janki Ballabh Shastri, born on February 5, 1916, at Maigra village of Bihar, was a Hindi poet, writer and critic of the post-Chhayavad period. His songs possessed the beauty of simplicity and his poetry was a rage at kavi sammelans.

His father died when he was still a child. Shastri passed the Bihar-Orissa Government Sanskrit Exam in the first division in 1927 at the age of 11. After obtaining the degree of 'Shastri' at the age of 16, he went to Banaras Hindu University. His formal education was in Sanskrit, but he also acquired a good knowledge of English and Bengali.

In 1934-35, he earned the title of 'Sahityacharya' with a gold medal and was declared Sahitya Ratna by the Purvavanga Saraswat Samaj, Dhaka. He was also the court poet of Raigarh (Madhya Pradesh) in 1937-38 and worked as a Hindi professor at Ram Dayalu Singh College, Bihar University, from 1953 to 1978.

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He started writing at the age of 16; his first work being 'Govindaganam'. Initially, he wrote poems in Sanskrit. Then, inspired by Mahakavi Nirala, he started writing in Hindi. Some of his popular songs are 'Roop-Aroop' and 'Teen-Tarang'. His four books — 'Sahitya Darshan', 'Chintadhara', 'Trayi' and 'Praachya Sahitya' — were appreciated for their creative form of emotional criticism in Hindi. From 1945-50, four of his lyrical poems were published — 'Shipra', 'Avantika', 'Meghgeet' and 'Sangam'. At the time, the publication of the narrative poem 'Gatha' was revolutionary from a social perspective. Edited by Shastri, 'Nirala ke Patra' (1971), is notable among the independent collection of personal letters.

His first song 'Kisne Bansuri Bajai' became quite popular. He was called the fifth Chhayavadi poet after Jaishankar Prasad, Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, Sumitranandan Pant and Mahadevi. He composed around 1,500 songs, which displayed a traditional philosophy, sensibility and language.

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‘Rasa’ and ‘anand’ were prominent in his poems and songs. He believed that poetry should evoke a reaction. In an interview, he said there were other forms of literature for factual information and poems must be written in a way that tugs at the readers’ hearts and creates a personal connection with them. It must reflect a sense of creativity and invite readers to engage with the language in a more interpretive way than prose. A poem shouldn’t always follow the same rules. Whether it’s simple or complex, poetry should resonate with the reader, stirring their imagination.

On January 26, 2010, the government honoured him with Padma Shri, but he declined to accept it, stating that the younger generation deserves the award more than him. Besides Rajendra Shikhar Award, Bharat Bharti Award and Shiv Sahay Poojan Award, he was awarded the Bharat Bharti Award by the Uttar Pradesh Government.

Shastri’s contributions to literature and philosophy left an indelible mark on Indian society and his work continues to influence people to this day. He died at the age of 95 on April 7, 2011, in Muzaffarpur, Bihar.

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